How Our Brains React to Weird Weather

Did you know that the United States is experiencing its sixth warmest winter on record? People in the northeastern and northcentral parts of America may find that hard to believe — as most of us are trying to stay warm through week-long temperatures that hardly break 10 degrees Fahrenheit. As humans, MinuteEarth reports it’s tough for us to stay objective when observing weather patterns.

In a recent video, the team covered how skewed our perspectives on weather can get depending on our political views, opinions on climate change, and recent weather experiences. So, when we ask ourselves, “Is this weather getting weirder?” our personal experiences will be the main driver of our answer.

The video cites a very rainy season that UK residents experienced back in 2012. In some parts, citizens reported flooding. However, researchers found that those who were flooded said that they’d noticed wetter and wetter weather over the course of their lives, compared to those who did not experience any floods.

The video states:

“Rain or shine, our minds tend to prize their freshest impressions. But even when we experience the same weird weather events as other people, we don’t always agree on how weird they actually were.”

Take the winter of 2012 for example, it was the third warmest on record. But Americans who lived through it remained divided based on their view on climate change. Even after adjusting for these beliefs, there remained another divide — Democrats were more likely to rate that winter as hotter than Republicans.

For more examples on how everything from personal impressions to the news influence our views on climate change, check out the video from MinuteEarth.

Photo Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Flickr